Renters outnumber homeowners in Detroit for first time since 1950

Report highlights problems facing city's housing
market

As homeownership has decreased in Detroit, vacancies and renters in single-family housing have increased.

The number of people renting homes in Detroit is higher than the number of homeowners for the first time since 1950, according to a Detroit Future City report.

Detroit lost 27 percent of its population and 32 percent of its owner-occupied homes between 2000 and 2015, straining its housing market. The report listed several other factors that present challenges to the market, including:

Just more than 700 homes in the city were purchased with mortgages last year, up from 557 in 2015, but lower than comparable cities such as Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y.

There are health risks associated with Detroit housing. More than 90 percent of the city's housing was built before 1980, when use of toxic, lead-based paint was widespread.

Many houses in the city have become dilapidated, which brings down property value and makes for unsafe living conditions.

With a poverty rate of 40 percent in Detroit, lack of affordable housing is another major issue. There are 10,374 Housing Choice Vouchers, 13,313 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units and 4,343 public housing units, which represents a small portion of housing in the city.

The report suggests the need to support growth in the city by implementing regulatory policies that protect renters and landlords, opportunities for traditional and nontraditional forms of financing, and multiple public and private partners to connect communities with resources.